Happy Insides

Recently we have been on a homemade bread kick.  It is so satisfying to eat fresh bread and this bread was no exception.  We made it to go with some soup we were making one Sunday night and it turned out so wonderful.  It is lightly cheesy, spicy and fluffy.  We will definitely be making this again.

One thing about homemade bread is that in ever recipe the last step includes the instruction to let the finished bread cool at least 1 hour before slicing.  Does anyone actually do that?  In our household the bread comes out of the oven and all bets are off.  In fact it was almost a miracle that we managed to get this photo taken before we ripped into it.  We are of the opinion that there is nothing better than hot straight from the oven bread with a generous dollop of butter melting all over it.  Pretty much heaven! 

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Buttermilk biscuits are a comfort food that we haven't indulged in recently.  We like biscuits a lot, but since they aren't normally the picture of healthy food we tend to only have them on special occasions.  Well we recently had one such special occasion...Christmas.  We decided to make some buttermilk biscuits for Christmas morning this year, but instead of using normal all purpose flour we decided to go ahead and try our hand at making them whole wheat as we both just enjoy whole wheat stuff so much more these days.

We selected whole white wheat flour since it tends to be more mild and palatable than a lot of normal (or red) whole wheat flours.  We also thought it would be mild in flavor to let the buttermilk and buttery flavors shine through.  We certainly weren't disappointed.  What resulted was a warm and flaky biscuit that had a great soft texture, but the heartiness of whole grain.

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We made these for our Halloween Party this week and they were so good.  We will definitely be making these again.  The sweet onion with the rosemary were a great combination and these are probably going to show up on our Thanksgiving menu this year.

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Challah is an amazing bread.  It is such a comfort food for Cassie that we have been searching for a good whole wheat recipe ever since we started eating clean.  This is the second recipe we tried and we think we found a winner.  It is fairly easy, but takes some time for all the various rises and steps.  It is well worth the effort.  We used stone ground whole wheat flour to make the bread because that is what we had.  It was very good, but definitely made a heavier bread.  A finer ground would give a more light and fluffy texture that is characteristic of challah, but the stone ground loaf was definitely still a winner.  We made this to break our Yom Kippur fast with.  It was SO satisfying after a long day without food.  Also it made great challah French toast the next morning. 

Whole Wheat Challah
 Recipe from Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" Found via The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Soaker:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. water

Biga:
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. yeast
1/4 t. evaporated cane juice or agave nectar
1/2 c. water
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks

For Final Dough:
the soaker
the biga
7 T. whole wheat flour, plus more for adjustments
3/4 t. salt
2 1/4 t. yeast
1 1/2 T. agave nectar or honey
2 T. vegetable oil

Toppings:
1 egg
1 T. water
pinch salt
poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional)

1) For the soaker: In a medium mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients together.  Cover and leave at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours, or refridgerate for up to 3 days.  If the dough is refrigerated, leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before mixing the final dough.

2) For the biga: In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients together.  Knead for 2 minutes; the dough will feel very tacky.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead for 1 minute.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.  Leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before mixing the final dough.

3) For the final dough:  Cut the soaker and the biga into 12 smaller pieces.  Put the pieces in a mixing bowl along with 7 T. of flour, the salt, the yeast, sugar, and oil.  You can mix these in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand.  Mix on slow for about 1 minute, until the dough comes together and then increase speed to medium-high and continue mixing and kneading for 6 minutes.  Add flour if necessary (we had to add quite a bit more to get it to the right consistency).  The dough should be soft and tacky, but not sticky.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes then resume kneading for 1 minute.  Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl.  Cover and let rise at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes until it is about 1 1/2 times its original size.

4) Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into 6 evenly sized pieces for 2 small loaves or 3 evenly sized pieces for 1 large loaf.  Roll each portion of dough into a rope about 10-14 inches long and about 1-2 inches thick.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.  Braid the ropes.

5) Place the braid(s) on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  To make the egg wash, whisk the egg, water and salt together.  Brush the braids with the egg wash, cover and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

6) Brush the dough with the egg wash again, then top with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, if using.  Leave the dough uncovered and let rise for 15 more minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

7) Place the challah on the middle shelf.  Reduce the heat to 325 degrees, and bake for 20 minutes.  Rotate the loaf 180 degrees and bake another 20 minutes.  Check the bread and rotate again if it is baking unevenly.  Continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the bread is a rich brown all around and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

8) Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

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It is gardening season. Unfortunately we weren't able to plant a garden this year, but we do know plenty of people who did. So many people seem to plant zucchini in their home gardens and if you have ever had a zucchini plant in your garden you know that those little buggers can easily and quickly go from a small zucchini to a monster in the span of 2 or 3 days. That is how this zucchini bread came to be. Cassie's co-worker brought in a giant zucchini from her garden that had to be at least 10 lbs. The thing was so big that there was really only 1 thing to do with it and that was to make zucchini bread. We made 3 loaves and froze enough shredded zucchini that we still probably have enough to make another 3-4 loaves. Good thing we like zucchini bread.

We made two types of bread. A sweet and a savory. They were both super good. The sweet recipe was your classic zucchini bread, but we used whole wheat flour and some oats in it. The savory we made a cheddar loaf. We added some jalapenos to it and it was wonderful. I think the loaf probably could have been cheesier so I changed the recipe to show that.



Zucchini Cheddar Bread
adapted from Honey and Jam
Makes 1 loaf

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. shredded zucchini
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. scallions
3 T. cilantro
1/4 c. pickled jalapeno slices
2 large eggs
1 c. buttermilk
4 t. unsalted butter melted

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2) whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add the zucchini, cheddar, scallions, cilantro, and jalapenos tossing them to coat them in the flour mixture.

3) In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will not be smooth.

4) bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Will take about 55-60 minutes. Let it cook completely before slicing.



For the sweeter version of the zucchini bread we used a recipe from Eating Well. We unfortunately did not get a photo of this loaf because one loaf got eaten too quickly and Cassie took the other loaf to work to share with co-workers.

Zucchini Bread
adapted from Eating Well
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 c. rolled oats
3 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 T. baking powder
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1 1/2 t. salt
2 c. sucanat
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
3/4 c. apple sauce
1/3 c. canola oil
3 c. shredded zucchini

1) preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 9x5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Spread the oats on a separate baking sheet and bake until lightly toasts, about 5-10 minutes.

2)Stir together all but 2 T. of the toasted oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together sucanat, eggs, egg whites, apple sauce and oil. Stir in zucchini. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until just combined.

4) Divide batter between the loaf pans and sprinkle 1 T. of the reserved oats on to each loaf. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Let the loaves cool completely before serving.

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One day at work Cassie noticed a stack of discarded Food Network Magazines and decided to grab them to see if there were any hidden jewels. Among them we found a recipe for these Chicken Salad pitas that sounded like a great, fresh, summer dinner. We decided to go ahead and make them this week. After the grocery shopping had been done, we realized that we'd forgotten to get pitas from the store. An oversight for sure, but not one that we let get in the way of our meal. We are both pretty adept at making bread like recipes for things like tortillas, nan and pizza dough. We have most bread recipe staples in our pantry so we hit the internet and found a great recipe for Whole Wheat pitas to go with it.

The pita recipe is an Emeril Lagasse recipe that we found on the Planet Green Website. Give yourself about 2.5-3 hours before you want to eat to make the pitas as they need time to rise. Other than the rising time they are very simple and delicious.

Whole Wheat Pitas
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 package (2 1/4 t.) active dry yeast
1 1/2 T. extra virgin olive oil + 1t.
1/2 t. honey
3 c. whole wheat flour +more for dusting
2 t. salt (I probably only used 1 t.)

1) Pour water into a bowl. Add yeast olive oil and honey. Allow yeast to bloom until it begins to foam, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and salt. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until round smooth and elastic. I used our Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook, but by hand would work fine as well. Grease the bottom of a clean bowl with olive oil and press the dough into the bottom greasing the entire ball of dough. Cover the dough and sit aside in a relatively warm place. Allow dough to rise for 2 hours till it has doubled in size.

2) Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and knead it by hand until it is round and smooth. Divide the dough into 16 2 ounce balls. Cover and allow to rise for another 20 minutes.

3) Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees and place an overturned baking sheet or a baking stone on the middle rack.

4) When the dough is done rising roll out the dough on a clean work surface that is dusted with more flour. Each pita should be about 6 inches in diameter. Place as many pitas onto the baking pan in the oven and allow to bake for about 2 minutes until it starts to bubble. Remove with a metal spatula and repeat with the remaining dough.

5) Serve warm or room temperature.

Chicken Salad Pita with Baba Ghanoush
Adapted from Food Network Magazine
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 sprig rosemary leaves
3-4 leaves of fresh basil chopped
3/4 t. red pepper flakes
2 T. canola oil
2 cloves garlic minced.
Kosher salt or sea salt
1 T. olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c. grape tomatoes halved
1 cucumber chopped
Fresh ground black pepper
4 pocketless pitas
1/2 c. baba ghanoush
2 c. coarsely chopped romaine lettuce or spinach

1) Whisk the vinegar, rosemary, basil, oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and salt to taste a shallow dish. Add the chicken and let marinate for at least 30 minutes
2) Mix the tomatoes, cucumbers salt and pepper in a bowl. Drizzle with 1 T. of olive oil
3) Grill Chicken until cooked through 2-3 minutes per side. Cut into 1/2 inch thick strips. Toss with the vegetables.
4) Place a pita on each plate. Brush with baba ghanoush. Top with lettuce and the chicken salad.

This really was a very enjoyable meal and we will definitely be making this again. Hope you enjoy it.

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